Have I mentioned that I am a bit of a freak-magnet? Oh, right, that is my motto...
today was as every other day: freaks gravitating to me and asking for things that I either can't get or have no intention of carrying. And then there was the very sweet guy who had asked about books of celtic design -- more along the lines of a coffee table volume than the intro to drawing celtic knots books I am able to get. I was busy with another customer and the phone was ringing while I was telling him what I would be able to get. He had already been in here before and we had talked about my being an archaeologist who had studied, among other things, the Iron Age. He asked me if I was also interested in the spiritual aspects of Celtic Studies -- I am, honestly, but not when the phone is ringing and someone wants me to ring them up :) He left his card and told me to give him a call if I am interested in an interesting academic, yet spiritual discussion. You know, in my free time... He is living on the outskirts of Dresden at the moment in a trailor in nature. As he left, he bowed with his hands pressed together and told me that if we don't meet again that he wishes me a good trip. Oh how I hope some of his peace and happiness rubbed off on me ;)
Aside from that, I have been busy: ordering books, labeling and stocking xmas goods, calculating prices for the American delivery that is taking forever and a day. I am about to get ugly with someone for jerking me around and making this delivery an absolute catastrophe. So much for the Halloween candy :/ I just hope it gets through customs soon -- there are Thanksgiving products in it. Boo!
Right. It is almost closing time and I need to get out of here quickly to do some handmade shopping and then I am meeting my two ninjas (think 3 amigos, but ninjas, that is us) for dinner and drinks. Hurrah!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Good Golly!
This is going to be a bit of a rant now, but I have to stop a second while I help an odd duck of a customer. Finished with the odd duck, boy was my 1st impression right on :D
My rant: people, if you expect to pay 1:1 prices of what you pay in the UK or in the US (or Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, tropical islands, whatever).... then please do not come into my shop and complain about my prices. Before you do that, surf the internet, check out the prices at online dealers. Go into Karstadt, check out their prices. THEN come into my shop -- you will immediately see that I am too damn nice and that I probably *could* be marking my goods up even more. If you want to fly or drive to the UK, go for it. Here is another little tip, though: I have been told that my Twinings tea is probably a bit cheaper than in supermarkets over there at the moment. Yeah, put that in your pocket, dude.
For the most part, my job is fun, I make a lot of people really happy. Like do a little jig in my shop happy. Yes, it has happened! But still, I do let these few people who complain get to me. I know I shouldn't... I guess I just worked so hard on my pricing and comparing costs and prices that it just hits me a bit low.
Yesterday with the kids was actually okay. They got a bit loud a few times, but kept themselves busy most of the time. They actually asked to be able to take a nap! S fell asleep really quickly, A needed a bit longer, but did doze off within 15 minutes of snuggling into his gnome covers. Ha! A group of young people woke them up after about an hour or so, though. They were both pretty sleepy last night.
So, off to try to make more people happy...
My rant: people, if you expect to pay 1:1 prices of what you pay in the UK or in the US (or Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, tropical islands, whatever).... then please do not come into my shop and complain about my prices. Before you do that, surf the internet, check out the prices at online dealers. Go into Karstadt, check out their prices. THEN come into my shop -- you will immediately see that I am too damn nice and that I probably *could* be marking my goods up even more. If you want to fly or drive to the UK, go for it. Here is another little tip, though: I have been told that my Twinings tea is probably a bit cheaper than in supermarkets over there at the moment. Yeah, put that in your pocket, dude.
For the most part, my job is fun, I make a lot of people really happy. Like do a little jig in my shop happy. Yes, it has happened! But still, I do let these few people who complain get to me. I know I shouldn't... I guess I just worked so hard on my pricing and comparing costs and prices that it just hits me a bit low.
Yesterday with the kids was actually okay. They got a bit loud a few times, but kept themselves busy most of the time. They actually asked to be able to take a nap! S fell asleep really quickly, A needed a bit longer, but did doze off within 15 minutes of snuggling into his gnome covers. Ha! A group of young people woke them up after about an hour or so, though. They were both pretty sleepy last night.
So, off to try to make more people happy...
Monday, October 25, 2010
It has been a long long time
I have been neglecting this poor blog of mine. Today is a great day to start using it again.
I have my two youngest kidlets in the shop today, I am sure I will have a bit to say about that....
And I want to share a fantastic chance for local Dresdeners to win something cool for their kids from one of my favorite shops here in the neighborhood: Catapult!
http://blog.catapult.de/liebeserklaerung-an-einen-maulwurf/#comments
Check it out and enter to win. I will update my adventures with a 4 yr old and nearly 6 yr old in the shop all day a bit later. Right now I need to get ready to open my doors for the day ;)
Over and out.
For now...
Been a SUPER busy day today. The sprogs actually slept for a bit (pictures will be added when I get home ;)), but then a group of young people came in who were a bit loud and woke the poor doodles up. This group that came in is a story for another day and maybe another dimension.
On a good note, my dearest friends - T & P (no, not TP) came in today which made me so happy and reminded me of how very damn lucky I am to have them. Truly turtly truly. They are as kooky as I am. No, really!
On a less that stellar note: we thought we had lost our two big boys. When the hubster got home from work today they should have been home with a friend of J's. The friend was there, but J and L were not to be found. Ugh. Turns out, they pulled a doofy and went to someone else's house, even though they had invited someone over. Needless to say, there will be a stop to visitation rights at and from friends for a bit. Panic is an awful feeling.
After a quick trip down the street to the yarn shop I am feeling a bit better. A bit more zen. The feared competition around the corner may not be competition, after all, but a compliment to me and my shop.
Right, need to get things picked up around the shop so that I can skeedaddle as soon as I have counted out the till. Home to a hot bath, a piece of cake, plying my handspun yarn. Then bed. Bliss.
I have my two youngest kidlets in the shop today, I am sure I will have a bit to say about that....
And I want to share a fantastic chance for local Dresdeners to win something cool for their kids from one of my favorite shops here in the neighborhood: Catapult!
http://blog.catapult.de/liebeserklaerung-an-einen-maulwurf/#comments
Check it out and enter to win. I will update my adventures with a 4 yr old and nearly 6 yr old in the shop all day a bit later. Right now I need to get ready to open my doors for the day ;)
Over and out.
For now...
Been a SUPER busy day today. The sprogs actually slept for a bit (pictures will be added when I get home ;)), but then a group of young people came in who were a bit loud and woke the poor doodles up. This group that came in is a story for another day and maybe another dimension.
On a good note, my dearest friends - T & P (no, not TP) came in today which made me so happy and reminded me of how very damn lucky I am to have them. Truly turtly truly. They are as kooky as I am. No, really!
On a less that stellar note: we thought we had lost our two big boys. When the hubster got home from work today they should have been home with a friend of J's. The friend was there, but J and L were not to be found. Ugh. Turns out, they pulled a doofy and went to someone else's house, even though they had invited someone over. Needless to say, there will be a stop to visitation rights at and from friends for a bit. Panic is an awful feeling.
After a quick trip down the street to the yarn shop I am feeling a bit better. A bit more zen. The feared competition around the corner may not be competition, after all, but a compliment to me and my shop.
Right, need to get things picked up around the shop so that I can skeedaddle as soon as I have counted out the till. Home to a hot bath, a piece of cake, plying my handspun yarn. Then bed. Bliss.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Perks
This gig here, my shop, has a few small perks, but also a few fantastic perks. Like meeting all kinds of foreign artists living here and working in the states opera house. this week alone i have had 6 ballet dancers, a violinist and an opera singer. Really! They are so nice and really funny about some foods. Flipping out at the sheer sight of chocolate chips. Whoa.
Okay, I was going to write a lot more, but am freaking out a bit. For the first time since I opened the shop I felt scared by a customer. For the most part my customers are sweet, silly people either expats or people who have travelled. Absolutely harmless. An Arabian or Turkish guy just came in, though, and asked for a large bag and then with broken German asked about honey. I explained I don't have honey, but told him where to get some. When I finally got it across to him he grabbed me in a hug and gave me a big wet kiss on the forehead. He kept telling me I am a beautiful woman and asked my name and was just very very creepy :/ I need to work on my bad-ass look. Like really really work on it!
Okay, I was going to write a lot more, but am freaking out a bit. For the first time since I opened the shop I felt scared by a customer. For the most part my customers are sweet, silly people either expats or people who have travelled. Absolutely harmless. An Arabian or Turkish guy just came in, though, and asked for a large bag and then with broken German asked about honey. I explained I don't have honey, but told him where to get some. When I finally got it across to him he grabbed me in a hug and gave me a big wet kiss on the forehead. He kept telling me I am a beautiful woman and asked my name and was just very very creepy :/ I need to work on my bad-ass look. Like really really work on it!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Blog Lazies
Well look at that! The blog-lazies have already hit. I won't admit to being totally lazy, though. I will hide behind the façade of having had a busy week last week. Sounds much more business-like.
On the topic of business like and abilities: I have been having a good laugh (with customers, to boot) in the last week over the fact that I am so not the business type. I am a cultural historian, really, with a side of language and literature. How on earth did I come to owning a business? It boggles my mind on more levels than I am willing to admit. And, much to my disdain, I am STILL waiting on the first 4 months payment of my state funding. I will continue to call *those people* until I get it. By then, they will probably owe me for the first 5 months. Boo. I need the money to be able to buy more shelving and to finance another American order -- and SOON!
This past week was filled with waiting for my 2nd order to arrive from the UK and then dealing with the order, itself. I was told it would arrive Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I received a measly 1 small pallet -- with my specialty goods. That was dealt with quickly. I asked where the other pallet was and no one knew. It must have been hiding, but luckily they did find it and were able to deliver it on Wednesday. In the end, I think it was better to have them arrive on different days, as the work of off-loading the pallets was split. By Thursday morning everything was in the shelves both in shop and in storeroom and the boxes were broken down.
I am already selling out of items again, though. It just amazes me to see what flies out the door! I received a case of no-name root beer on Wednesday and by Saturday I was down to 4 cans. Seriously? The first time around it took 2 weeks to sell that much. Dr. Pepper: a third of my case gone in the same amount of time. People seem to realize how quickly some items sell out now and have begun hoarding. They come into the shop, look left and right with beady eyes, grab armfulls of their food-crack and shuffle quickly to the check-out counter all the while protecting their stash from the wandering eyes of others. Maybe I should install a privacy shield around the counter...
Aside from that, things are really moving, especially for just completing my first month of business. I spent the morning putting together 3 smaller orders -- 2 from smaller distributors in Germany and mostly for drinks. The dire need for things like Dr. Pepper, A&W Rootbeer, Mountain Dew, Welch's Grape Soda, British Ales and Ciders is ever growing and I need fodder for the masses. I also am finally ready to place an order for hot sauces and such from an American company.
And let us not forget all of my Aussie customers / Australia fans who see that I have Vegemite and come in begging for *just.one.package* of Tim Tams or Cherry Ripe. It is beyond funny what these people are willing to do to get them! I think if I asked for their first-born that some would actually trade.
For the most part, I have fabulous customers, there are a few that make my head spin, though. They find my selection of 400 products (give or take) and books too small and need about a gazillion other items that I cannot or do not want to get. I am sorry, but I can only cater to so many different tastes. These types make my day less than brilliant -- fortunately they are not many.
I think that is as much as I can manage to write today. Once I get my orders placed this week, I should be able to think about writing again. Until then, I will try to keep my stories fresh in my mind.
No promises.
On the topic of business like and abilities: I have been having a good laugh (with customers, to boot) in the last week over the fact that I am so not the business type. I am a cultural historian, really, with a side of language and literature. How on earth did I come to owning a business? It boggles my mind on more levels than I am willing to admit. And, much to my disdain, I am STILL waiting on the first 4 months payment of my state funding. I will continue to call *those people* until I get it. By then, they will probably owe me for the first 5 months. Boo. I need the money to be able to buy more shelving and to finance another American order -- and SOON!
This past week was filled with waiting for my 2nd order to arrive from the UK and then dealing with the order, itself. I was told it would arrive Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I received a measly 1 small pallet -- with my specialty goods. That was dealt with quickly. I asked where the other pallet was and no one knew. It must have been hiding, but luckily they did find it and were able to deliver it on Wednesday. In the end, I think it was better to have them arrive on different days, as the work of off-loading the pallets was split. By Thursday morning everything was in the shelves both in shop and in storeroom and the boxes were broken down.
I am already selling out of items again, though. It just amazes me to see what flies out the door! I received a case of no-name root beer on Wednesday and by Saturday I was down to 4 cans. Seriously? The first time around it took 2 weeks to sell that much. Dr. Pepper: a third of my case gone in the same amount of time. People seem to realize how quickly some items sell out now and have begun hoarding. They come into the shop, look left and right with beady eyes, grab armfulls of their food-crack and shuffle quickly to the check-out counter all the while protecting their stash from the wandering eyes of others. Maybe I should install a privacy shield around the counter...
Aside from that, things are really moving, especially for just completing my first month of business. I spent the morning putting together 3 smaller orders -- 2 from smaller distributors in Germany and mostly for drinks. The dire need for things like Dr. Pepper, A&W Rootbeer, Mountain Dew, Welch's Grape Soda, British Ales and Ciders is ever growing and I need fodder for the masses. I also am finally ready to place an order for hot sauces and such from an American company.
And let us not forget all of my Aussie customers / Australia fans who see that I have Vegemite and come in begging for *just.one.package* of Tim Tams or Cherry Ripe. It is beyond funny what these people are willing to do to get them! I think if I asked for their first-born that some would actually trade.
For the most part, I have fabulous customers, there are a few that make my head spin, though. They find my selection of 400 products (give or take) and books too small and need about a gazillion other items that I cannot or do not want to get. I am sorry, but I can only cater to so many different tastes. These types make my day less than brilliant -- fortunately they are not many.
I think that is as much as I can manage to write today. Once I get my orders placed this week, I should be able to think about writing again. Until then, I will try to keep my stories fresh in my mind.
No promises.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Holy Booksales, Batman
Today is a much better day than the last few have been -- largely due to a nice Aussie who came in and bought a number of kiddie books. He works with kids in a preschool and needed some new reading material. Cool. He also gave me some great suggestions for other books to buy for the shop. Then I sold the Delia cookbook and had to laugh thinking about the Librarian and her Delia impersonation, Ha! And a nice little French lass who is a bit of an Anglophile and who needed some more reading materials. A very sweet young lady.
My british order will be here Monday or Tuesday of next week already! Hurrah, there have been several people just coming in for Salt & Vinegar Crisps that have left disappointedly. Well, then, soon they won't be disappointed ;) They will be happy as maggots on day old dinner.
Have had some more interesting people in looking for the American cult products from films. It totally cracks me up, but hey ho! They usually come back to try something out that they saw the first time. I'm good with that.
I am still trying to check prices and decide who I am going to order a few soft drinks and other stuff from. I have 2 German distributors I can work with -- not the greatest prices, but not the worst, either. And they have important stuff like ales, cider, pumpkin, dr. pepper, root beer, mt. dew. blach :P
My british order will be here Monday or Tuesday of next week already! Hurrah, there have been several people just coming in for Salt & Vinegar Crisps that have left disappointedly. Well, then, soon they won't be disappointed ;) They will be happy as maggots on day old dinner.
Have had some more interesting people in looking for the American cult products from films. It totally cracks me up, but hey ho! They usually come back to try something out that they saw the first time. I'm good with that.
I am still trying to check prices and decide who I am going to order a few soft drinks and other stuff from. I have 2 German distributors I can work with -- not the greatest prices, but not the worst, either. And they have important stuff like ales, cider, pumpkin, dr. pepper, root beer, mt. dew. blach :P
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
d-day
danananana
I used to have this flick memorized. Seriously. And all of the other films Molly Ringwald made. Bombastic.
I will update this later from work, but wanted to get the video uploaded.
I never got around to updating this, but will start a new entry in a bit with more of an update ;)
I used to have this flick memorized. Seriously. And all of the other films Molly Ringwald made. Bombastic.
I will update this later from work, but wanted to get the video uploaded.
I never got around to updating this, but will start a new entry in a bit with more of an update ;)
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